The Story Behind Samsung Color E-Paper: The Digital Signage Solution That Displays 2.5 Million Colors Without Continuous Power

From menu boards and discount offers to promotional advertisements, digital signage has become an essential medium for delivering information in retail spaces. Now, a new display has emerged — one that can show images without a continuous power supply.

On June 8, Samsung Electronics launched the 32-inch Color E-Paper — an ultra-low-power digital signage solution capable of delivering rich, high-quality visuals.

Behind this innovative product lies Samsung’s proprietary Color Imaging Algorithm technology, developed through close collaboration between the Visual Display (VD) Business and Samsung Research at Samsung Electronics.

Samsung Newsroom spoke with two key figures behind its development — Daewoong Cho from the VD Business and Iljun Ahn from Samsung Research — to learn more about the creation of Color E-Paper.

Paradigm Shift: Ultra-Slim, Ultra-Light and Ultra Low-Power

The Color E-Paper sets a new benchmark for digital signage — redefining hardware, operational methods and content expressiveness.

The globally released EM32DX model (32-inch) sports an ultra-slim profile, measuring just 8.6 millimeters at its thinnest point, and boasts a lightweight structure, weighing only 2.5 kilograms with the battery.

“We designed the device to be ultra-slim and ultra-light so that it can be installed easily, even in tight spaces,” said Cho, who led Color E-Paper’s hardware development. “This versatility means it can serve as a menu board at a café entrance or be mounted on a wall to function as a seasonal, emotionally resonant interior display.”

One of the biggest advantages of the Color E-Paper is its ultra-low power consumption, as it draws 0.00W¹ while displaying a static image. This allows content to remain visible for extended periods on battery power alone, significantly reducing energy usage in retail environments. Changing the display image requires only a minimal amount of power as well. In addition, as part of Samsung’s commitment to sustainability, the product incorporates recycled plastics in its exterior and comes in eco-friendly packaging.

A Display That Runs Without a Continuous Power Supply

The secret behind the Color E-Paper’s ultra-low power consumption is its distinctive method of displaying images.

“While conventional LCD signage uses a backlight to illuminate images, the Color E-Paper arranges six colors of digital ink in precise locations — just like printing on paper,” said Ahn, who participated in developing the product’s image enhancement technology. “This is also what gives the display its eye-friendly visual texture.”

The display consists of millions of microcups, each containing four colored ink particles (red, yellow, white and blue). When an electrical signal is applied to each cup, the designated ink particles rise to the surface to produce six colors.

“This process closely resembles the printing principle by which ink adheres to paper,” Ahn explained. “Once an image is formed, it can be semi-permanently retained without any further power consumption.”

Rich Images With Just Six Colors Through Samsung’s Proprietary Technology

The Color E-Paper‘s strengths go far beyond power efficiency. The product can reproduce vibrant, natural hues using only six colors thanks to Samsung Electronics’ independently developed Color Imaging Algorithm.

“Conventional products had limitations in accurately reproducing input colors, and issues such as distortion and noise occurred in flat or edge areas of images. A solution was needed to overcome these challenges, so the VD Business and Samsung Research joined forces to come up with one,” said Ahn.

The starting point for developing the Color Imaging Algorithm, which enhances both color expressiveness and visibility, was the Human Visual System (HVS). The algorithm was built around a key aspect of human vision: the eye perceives the average color across a certain region, rather than focusing on the colors of individual pixels.

“By leveraging this trait, it’s possible to create the perception of different colors by naturally combining the six colors. The key lies in optimizing the ratio and arrangement of those combinations to avoid any color distortion,” Ahn added.

Calculating Color Ratios: Probability Map Extraction

Conventional e‑paper relies on error-diffusion² techniques to approximate digital images using a limited color palette. While effective, these methods carry significant drawbacks, as they are prone to visual distortion and suffer from slow computation speeds.

To overcome these limitations, Samsung devised an innovative approach that calculates the probability of placing certain colors within arbitrary regions, allowing for more precise color expression.

By computing color weights as probabilities, the Color E-Paper can render nearly 2.5 million distinct hues using just six colors — a dramatic 40-fold increase in color richness compared to the roughly 60,000 hues achievable with conventional methods.

Optimizing Color Arrangement: Color Sampling

Along with color ratios, the way colors are arranged also plays a critical role in color rendition quality. Building on the probability map, Samsung developers applied blue–noise-based ³ sampling (arrangement) to assign colors on a pixel-by-pixel basis, ensuring uniform and smooth color rendering.

This advanced Color Imaging Algorithm technology significantly reduces eye strain and delivers images with soft, natural boundaries — just like printed material.

A Globally Acclaimed Technology With a Bright Future

With reactions like “I thought it was real paper!” and “Where’s the power cable?”, people are often surprised or impressed when they see the Color E‑Paper for the first time. The innovation drew significant attention at this year’s edition of Europe’s largest display exhibition, Integrated Systems Europe, where it won three Best of Show at ISE 2025 awards.

“I felt so proud when I heard that a global brand, one that had previously insisted on analog signage only, began seriously considering a digital transformation after seeing the Color E‑Paper at ISE 2025,” Daewoong Cho recalled.

“The natural, paper-like color of the Color E-Paper will offer consumers a fresh experience across various commercial settings. We plan to introduce it in a range of sizes, from small to large displays.”

“We are continuing our research with the goal of being able to render a broader range of colors more effectively. Samsung Research and the VD Business will keep working in close partnership to deliver the next breakthrough in display technology,” added Iljun Ahn.

With its paradigm-shifting power efficiency and color accuracy, the Samsung Color E‑Paper is leading the evolution of digital signage. Driven by a spirit of continuous innovation, Samsung’s product developers are committed to enhancing visual experiences in commercial spaces — setting a new standard for the displays of tomorrow.

1 Based on IEC 62301 standards from the International Electrotechnical Commission. Power consumption below 0.005W is indicated as 0.00W.

2 This method diffuses the quantization error — introduced during image quantization — by distributing it in specified proportions to adjacent pixels, ensuring the errors become visually less noticeable across the entire image.

3 Unlike white noise, blue noise is concentrated in the high-frequency spectrum, distributing fine-grained, evenly spaced patterns without large blotches — enabling smoother and more natural image rendering on displays.